Cancer Survivor Opens Virginia's Only Wig Shop for 100 Miles

When Ella Mae Wickham's hair fell out during cancer treatment 22 years ago, she felt lost and alone. She didn't know where to turn or how to feel like herself again.

Within two years of her diagnosis, the longtime cosmetologist opened Wigs Unlimited on Broad Street in Martinsville, Virginia. "I just thought … I've got to help these ladies," Wickham said.

Today, her shop offers wigs in various colors, lengths, and styles, plus prostheses and mastectomy bras. But what makes Wigs Unlimited special is what happens behind the scenes: Wickham navigates the complex insurance filing process for her customers, cutting costs on items that can run hundreds or thousands of dollars without coverage.

She's the only provider in a 100-mile radius who accepts prescriptions and helps customers file with their insurance. In the past year, she's even started filing with Medicaid and Medicare.

Joan Joyce, Wickham's longtime hair client, was diagnosed with cancer in May. "She just was a cheerleader, and she said the best thing you can do is put on your makeup, pick yourself up and just go," Joyce said.

When Joyce's first piece of hair fell out, she started crying. Wickham had warned her it would be shocking, drawing from her own experience two decades earlier.

At her wig appointment, Joyce ended up having fun trying on different styles while Wickham took videos. She picked two light brown wigs and loves switching between them so much that she's planning to get a third.

Sunny's Take

"When a woman gets breast cancer, it doesn't just attack her body, it can attack her sense of femininity and sense of self," said Erin Steigleder, director of programs at the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. Shops like Wickham's are "huge in the psychological recovery of breast cancer."

Steigleder noted that breast cancer survivors know best what's needed in a community to support women going through treatment. "Kudos to her for seeing a gap and deciding to fill it," she said.

The Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998 requires group health insurance plans that cover mastectomies to also cover post-mastectomy products. But plans typically cap coverage at one prosthesis per affected side each year and just two to four mastectomy bras annually.

"When you think about those who don't have breast cancer, how many bras do you own?" Steigleder said. "You don't have just one."

Wickham still works as a cosmetologist three days a week at The Cottage Salon next door to help fund her mastectomy bra business, which she started two years ago. She offers everything from simple foam prostheses to custom-made forms created via 3D scanning.

After 45 years cutting hair, Wickham hopes to eventually focus solely on wigs and prosthetics. "I feel like I've been blessed to make it through my cancer journey," she said. "When you've been blessed, you want to help others."